the song, taipei and me:

The exhibition, The Song, Taipei and Me, is contained within one room on the second floor of Taipei City Hall. Although rich in explanations about the development of popular music in Taiwan, the exhibit's content is somewhat difficult to grasp, unless of course you either grew up here or are an expert in the subject.

The Song, Taipei and Me is arranged chronologically, first grounding Taiwan's musical history in the folk songs sung by Aborigines, Hakkas and Minnan people. It wasn't until 1932, however, that Taiwan made its mark on the pop music map, when a Taiwanese song was used in a slient movie filmed in Shanghai titled Sobbing Peach Blossoms, said Yang Mei-Jen, a spokeswoman for the center.

Before 1945, during Japanese rule, the content of music was strictly controlled. The use of Chinese characters was forbidden and it was required that Japanese song melodies be used together with Taiwanese lyrics.

In fact, it wasn't until after Japan ceded control of Taiwan in August 1945 and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) moved to Taipei that Mandarin songs first found their way into Taiwan's music market.

From then on, the island's musical industry blossomed. During the 1940s, for instance, Danshui -- the Ximending of that era -- became a mecca for pop music lovers. For the price of a cheap cup of tea, anyone could lounge on a bamboo bench alongside the Danshui river and listen to Taiwanese songs well into the night.

Interestingly enough, Danshui some 30 years later gave rise to a musical movement called "Campus Songs," after one artist, Li Shuang-ze (????appeared at a concert at Tamkang University in Danshui and refused to sing US songs, rhetorically asking whether the Taiwanese are without their own musical influences.

Later, these "Campus Songs," whose lyrics stressed sincerity and inner peace, became popular not only among college students but also among the general public.

The chronology ends with the present state of pop-music in Taiwan, detailing how TV and radio helped popularize music during the 1960s and 1970s. It also briefly cites current musical talents like the LA Boyz, a group composed of three US-born Taiwanese brothers, and Tokyo D, a Japanese singer.

i really wish i would have known about this show earlier so i could have gone and seen it for myself. too late now. the spin on taiwan's musical history seems to be a bit different from what i've heard before. for example the kmt were known for suppressing the taiwanese language and banned quite a few songs themselves. also i don't think all songs in taiwan had to be based on japanese melodies(during the occupation) as this writer suggests. the la boyz are hardly current, and a good example of everything that is wrong with the music industry in taiwan. via far eastern audio review.